Officer not guilty of animal cruelty in shooting death of dog

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ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. -- A jury says Commerce City police officer Robert Price is not guilty of animal cruelty in the shooting death of a dog. The verdict in Adams County District Court came Wednesday.

Price faced one felony count in the shooting death of a dog named Chloe on November 24, 2012.

Price was among several officers who responded to a call about a dog running around in the 9600 block of Nucla St. in Commerce City.

Chloe was a lab and pit bull mix.

Officers used a stun gun on the dog and then shot her a number of times. A neighbor recorded the incident and the video became key evidence in the trial.

“I respect the jury’s verdict,” said District Attorney Dave Young. “These are very difficult cases for prosecutors to handle. We presented all the evidence to the jury, including the video of the shooting, and the jury based its verdict on that.”

Price had been on paid adminstrative leave. He will now return to duty.

11 comments

j

Justin Woolsey

I watched the video and see no aggressive dog in fact it looks to me like the cops were the aggressors the dog has his butt parked in his own garage and appears to be behaving completely. What were the cops expecting after they tasered the dog into the corner of his own garage of course it is going to try and escape and protect it’s territory. And the video clearly shows that if the dog had been as aggressive as these three cops claimed don’t you think it would have gone after the cops instead of running past them ? I would like to see everyone who is outraged over this video to contact the proper authorities and launch a complaint also include the governor.

ron

NOT GUILTY?!?!?!? This is bull to say the very least!!! I blame the DA because they are not a true animal lover because ANYONE with the slightest love of an animal I could win this case. What would that cop have done if it was a guy cuffed acting the same?? SHOOT HIM??? Oh yea this was a dog…. see what I’m saying? I thought we came a long way in protecting our family members our pets….. this case put us way back to the beginning!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A SHAME…SHAM!!!

Jake

Yes people. Cops just love shooting random dogs in front of animal control officers for fun. A jury found him not guilty. The jury watched the video too. That means there was evidence enough to convince them beyond a reasonable doubt that he was innocent. There is more to the story than you see. Stop acting like you were in the court room. Find out why he is not guilty before you freak out in protest.